Student kitchens
Easy, delicious, healthy(ish) recipes that won’t own your budget.Archive for sesame
More miso, less misery
So…I went overseas for about a month and forgot to say anything about it, and then I realised wordpress is blocked in China (where I went). Let’s not get into the political frustration of that right now. Personally, oops, and sorry, and if you bought miso due to my rapturous recommendation last post, then here’s another way to use it. Just as fast and easy, quite a bit more delicious. Before I get down to the recipe (miso glazed noodles with sesame oil and spring onions, plus an optional green salad on the side with a super simple soy and rice wine vinegar dressing), let me show you how ridiculous my 5 square meter garden is right now, after 4 weeks of me being gone:
Planted in my precious 5 square metres: sage, thyme, oregano, carrots, leeks, celery (2 types), 4 types of lettuce, kale, snow peas, mesclun salad leaves (my favourite being mizuna red coral), radishes and spinach. In the pots: leek? onion?, flat parsley, chives, garlic chives, blue cornflowers, blueberry bush, rhubarb, and Bob has half a dozen kids of berries.
That’s after I pulled out about 5 carrots whose tops had grown about a metre high. The front pots do contain some of Bob’s achievements, such as the boysenberries, but other than that, there are very few weeds, and Will didn’t even water the vege garden once (to his credit, he didn’t forget, the plants just kept…growing…). I used some organic fertilisery stuff before I left, but the nitrogen fixing from the snow peas staked at the back must have given the plants around their roots a bit of a boost. I have so much vegetable.
In this section: mesclun salad leaf mix (kale, mizuna, mizuna red coral, mustard streaks, some magenta coloured thing, and a whole bunch or other things I dunno the name of…maybe raddichio?), spring onions, carrots, unhappy (ok, dead) purple beans, and flat parsley. In pots: Marigolds and blue cornflowers, plus some more mesclun salad in the big tub…although maybe I shouldn’t grow any more for a wee while…
This is the second 5 square meter vege garden I dug up, but it doesn’t get nearly as much sun, so the spring onions (which is in the same family of onions, which wards off slugs) surrounding the mesclun mix got a bit weed choked. So far the companion planting seems to be working wonders, as this garden has very few bug bites or problems. Let me know if you’re interested. Before you think I’ve lost my mind gardening, let me show you who I feed some of the scraps to:
Bob and Emily’s rabbits! Adam says the left one looks like a Panda rabbit.
Anyway, onto pressing issues such as how to use up that miso you bought!
Miso glazed noodles
per person
A bunch (about 2cm diameter) of soba/buckwheat noodles (see photo below)
3/4Tbs miso paste
approx 1 Tbs chopped spring onion
approx 1 tsp sesame oil
approx 2 tsp canola or cooking oil
Bring about 2-3c unsalted water to the boil in a saucepan on medium high heat, add noodles. Stir occasionally for about 3-5 minutes, until noodles are softened. Drain, but retain some moisture. Immediately add the rest of the ingredients, and stir until thoroughly combined and evenly distributed. Serve.
These buckwheat/soba noodles are my new version of 2 minute noodles, but healthier and just as versatile. They taste different to 2 minute noodles, but not enough for them to be off putting. They aren’t as cheap, however, with this 1.3kg packet costing about $10 at Kosco on Blenheim Rd (most Asian supermarkets, particularly Korean or Japanese ones, have several varieties in stock). Still…1.3kg is a lot of noodle.
Onto the green salad, which consists of mesclun salad leaves (easy find at the vege section at supermarkets, you can pick as much or as little as you like. Growing is easy too, even in containers) and chopped or shaved cucumber. The dressing is just 1 part good Japanese soy sauce (such as Kikkoman), 2 parts rice wine vinegar or white vinegar, 1 part sesame oil and 1 part canola oil. Use about 2 Tbs dressing per serving for good measure.
I’ve had this for dinner and lunch already, and I’ve only been home 2 days! If you want you can add nuts or chopped hard boiled egg to the salad to add even more protein, but remember miso is relatively high in protein anyway. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
PS. Anyone notice that I didn’t use my DSLR camera? I got a new point and shoot, and thought I’d try it out. Lightroom did wonders too.
Snack series #1 – addictive flaky crackers
I’ve made crackers several times before,but this recipe uses much more oil and also has butter to make a flaky, crispy cracker. It uses actual cheese, and takes about ten minutes to form into dough and about half an hour to roll out. I present to you: rosemary, parmesan and sesame crackers.
The picture above has no sesame in, as I kept forgetting to add them in the rolling stage. You may be wondering why on earth I’m suggesting to bake crackers before exams. Well, firstly, it’s damn cold, and any reason not to go out (and just use the flour in the pantry) for snacks is good by me. Second, it’s damn cold, and this will get you moving about, and a good excuse for a not-all-day-break. Third, it’s damn cold, and this is a good reason to turn the oven on, and huddle around the meagre heat that escapes through the oven glass window. Fourth…well, you know me, I like baking things from scratch. It’s fun :D Fifth, you can make any flavour combination you want pretty much – I’m sure you could experiment without the parmesan, and do plain herbed crackers, or spiced crackers, or plain poppy and sesame. And lastly, they taste pretty fantastic.
Parmesan, rosemary, and sesame crackers
makes several dozen thin, rectangular inch long crackers
about 30g butter, diced finely
about 1/3 c oil
1 1/3 c plain flour (I used the equivalent wholemeal)
about 50g parmesan, finely grated
sesame seeds to taste (black or white) – I’d use about 1 Tablespoon.
Rosemary leaves (pref. fresh), roughly chopped a little
pinch salt
a few Tablespoons water
Rub butter, salt, and flour together to create a mixture resembling breadcrumbs (like you’d do for scones, but there’s a lot less butter). Add parmesan, rosemary, sesame seeds and oil, and mix to create larger clumps. Add a tablespoon of water at a time, mixing for at least a minute after each addition, to form a soft dought that holds together easily.
Generously flour your benchtop, and lightly oil as many baking trays as you have (you want at least two to make the process speedy). Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Divide the dough into six sections. Roll out a section on the well floured surface until you have a thin sheet just under 2mm thin. Make sure the dough isn’t sticking at any stage while you’re rolling it out. Transfer to lightly greased baking tray, cut into 1 inch (at the longest side) rectangles, and separate (you want about 1cm of space between the crackers. I’ve tried not separating – the outside rim of crackers will cook fine, but the centre will be undercooked. So separate, okay?
Throw into the oven and let bake in the centre rack for about 5-10 minutes (depending on your oven). You want them to be lightly golden, or if using wholemeal, golden brown. They may not be crispy-feeling when they come out, but transfer them immediately to a cooling rack and they will crisp up after about five minutes. While cooking, you can prepare the next batch, so you shouldn’t have too much idle time.
Enjoy with the best cheese you can afford, or just on their own. EDIT: Store in an airtight container to keep them crisp.
Next up: The classic chocolate chip cookie, without butter or eggs…but with plenty of deliciousness and super quick-ness! lea
Soy, sesame and spring onion tofu
“Tofu doesn’t taste like anything” is probably the most common thing I hear about tofu, although I suspect if people didn’t know I ate it, then the most common thing would be “ewwww.” Now, let me get something off my chest – I know tofu doesn’t taste like much, but it does have a very mild nutty/beany flavour. Sure, I wouldn’t want to eat it on its own, but even most meat lovers add flavourings to their meat. Vegetables get a similar reaction to tofu, but the truth is, very very few raw unseasoned foods taste like anything. So before you completely dismiss the taste aspect of tofu, try it with some flavour.
Soy, sesame and spring onion tofu
a guide
Chop your tofu into cubes (the size doesn’t matter so much, but for a milder taste, cut bigger cubes). Soft tofu tends to be creamier, but more prone to falling apart. Soft or medium firmness tofu works best for this. Drizzle with your best soy sauce (Japanese tends to work well), enough to cover the entire surface area of the tofu cubes. Add a splash of sesame oil, a sprinkling of sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and chopped spring onion (green part). Mix to cover the tofu in soy sauce, then let marinate for about 30 minutes (in fridge if you want it cold). Garnish with roasted black sesame seeds. Sliced avocado tastes delicious with this as well.
If making tofu cold, make sure you’re using tofu bought that day or before the best before if vacuum sealed.
A tofu guide (for Christchurch and cities without a proper chinatown/asiantown):
firm tofu (feels like a soft eraser) “gan zi” : good for stews, stir fries, and any situation where you want the tofu to keep its shape well.
recommended brands: tofu man, available at most asian supermarkets in their fridges.
regular tofu: usually comes in medium firmness, which you’ll find at normal supermarkets, or a softer creamier kind, which falls apart quite easily. Both are good used cold in salads, but will not maintain shape well. Good for tofu scrambles, soups, and can be ok for stir fries if you like tofu scramble.
recommended brands: bean me up (available at some supermarkets, asian dairies, restaurants), tofu man (available at asian supermarkets and dairies in the fridges)
fried tofu “dou pao”: usually used in stir fries for asian vegetarian dishes at restaurants. This is just regular tofu deep fried, and has a golden “jacket.” Great for soaking up flavour in saucy stir fries.
recommended brands: only one I know well is tofu man
soy skins “dou fu pi”: you know the skin from the fat that can develop on milk? That stuff for soymilk is DELICIOUS. It’s not as gross as milk skin, I promise. It’s usually soft, pale yellow, and looks like wrinkled skin, and is great chopped up in stir fries.
find it: very rarely at asian supermarkets or tofu man (the factory) – in riccarton
tofu sheets “qian zhang” pronounced chyan tszung: these might look like sheets of fabric but they’re really sheets of extra firm tofu. They’re good for using in very saucy stir fries, noodly soups and sometimes fillings.
find it: tofu man at asian supermarkets in the fridges.
Crackers.
I know it’s not really customary to make one’s own crackers (the effort to reward ratio may be a bit skewed for some) but all in all, it wasn’t too difficult…Okay, so my first batch failed miserably (I was craving this parmesan poppy seed cracker), but I used the second half of the “dough” (really it was oil with some flour sticking it together, but only just) to re-work into an actual dough which worked. So. below is a rough guide (because I think you need to use feel for cracker dough – as was evidenced by my initial failure, despite sticking to the recipe) for making parmesan poppy and sesame crackers (with some additions to make them a bit healthier. sigh. I love home baking). Great thing is – you are bound to have at least the base ingredients (oil, flour, cold water, salt).
You can make them as little or big as you like depending what you want to have them with (whitestone cheese…ohhhh yeah). There’s a good plain recipe at Cook Like Mad too.
Seeded crackers (you can omit the seeds if you want)
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c white flour
poppy seeds & sesame seeds
approx 1/2 c finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tsp ice-cold water (or more as needed)
Mix everything together in a bowl until it forms a dough – it should be firm but not be too much effort to tear in half. Add water or flour as needed to adjust. Knead until everything looks smooth. Let the dough rest in your fridge for 10 or 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C or 400F. Prepare a baking tray by lightly(!) greasing it, and a chopping board with a faint sprinkle of flour. Take 1/4 of the dough and roll out very thin – no thicker than 2mm (or they’ll be dry and take AGES to cook). Cut into desired shapes/sizes and place on the baking tray. Poke holes in the crackers with a fork, and place on middle rack in the hot oven. Bake for 10-15 mins, or until the crackers are just hard (and you can’t dent them without breaking them). Cool (preferably on a wire rack) and serve!
